The Rogue One X-Wing Pilot Easter Egg You Definitely Missed

Earlier this week, new photos were released from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story that tease some of the deleted scenes that weren't included in the theatrical cut. Today we have even more details about this blockbuster before it enters its fourth weekend at the box office, including some very obscure Easter Eggs about a few of the X-Wing pilots. If that wasn't enough, the cameo appearance of director Gareth Edwards has also been revealed. There may be SPOILERS for Rogue One below, if you're among the few who haven't seen it yet, so read on at your own risk.

Radio Times was perusing the official tie-in book Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide, and came across some intriguing details. British fans may have noticed a few familiar faces among the X-Wing pilots, notably Uptopia star Geraldine James and Yonderland's Simon Farnaby, although their real names were never revealed in the actual movie. The Rogue One tie-in book reveals that their character names are actually anagrams of their real names.

Geraldine James' character is Jaldine Gerams (aka Blue Three), while Simon Faranaby is Farns Monsbee. Additionally, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell star Ariyon Bakare's character is named Barion Raner, and first assistant director Toby Hefferman, who also played a U-Wing pilot, was named "Heff Tobber." While it wasn't revealed in the tie-in book, an eagle-eyed fan noticed director Gareth Edwards' cameo in Rogue One, and as it turns out, he actually had a rather significant on-screen role.

Twitter user Leonardo Valdivia recently posted a photo of the director's cameo on Twitter, revealing that the filmmaker is the soldier who disengages the Tantive IV, the rebel ship that is seen at the beginning of A New Hope and at the end of Rogue One. Because of Gareth Edwards' character, this ship which carried both Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and the Death Star plans was allowed to escape from Darth Vader's clutches, setting up the iconic scene with Leia at the end of the film. Perhaps we'll get to see more of the director's cameo when the Blu-ray and DVD is released later this year.

These details are just the latest to surface in the weeks following the theatrical release on December 16. Earlier this week LucasFilm debuted new images and while most featured scenes that were shown in the movie, there were a handful of images taken from some of the deleted scenes. Perhaps the most intriguing photo of this new batch features Ben Mendelsohn as Director Orson Krennic, where he's seen pointing a blaster at someone off-screen. There is speculation already that this scene may have taken place after the Death Star was tested on the planet of Jedha, after it had been mined for the kyber crystals that power the battle station's primary weapon. And that Krennic is pointing the gun at Gran Moff Tarkin.

Rogue One recently crossed the $800 million box office milestone, and it's quite possible that this could be only the fourth film this year to cross $1 billion worldwide. Surprisingly, all three of the $1 billion movies have been Disney releases, with Captain America: Civil War ($1.1 billion), Finding Dory ($1.027 billion) and Zootopia ($1.023 billion). With little competition at the box office in the next few weeks, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story could cross $1 billion, but we'll keep you posted with all updates for Rogue One as soon as they come out.